Every Sunday afternoon there is also a new episode of the [email protected] podcast. Listen to it here:
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Omroep Brabant also broadcasts the TV program ‘Op pad’ on Tuesday, in which viewers are taken into the nature reserves of Brabants Landschap. As a viewer you can also walk the route from the program yourself. There is special for the program developed a walking app.
Not a beetle, but a bug and a special one at that
Erna van Dungen saw what she thought was a beetle crawling under the sofa and wondered which beetle that was. It is not a beetle, but a bug with very beautiful elytra. The special elytra are very unique and we are dealing here with a juniper bug.
This species of bug looks very green, but both green elytra have a very nice brown spot that resembles a boomerang. You can simply encounter this bug in Brabant, because this species mainly lives on sandy soils and previously mainly near juniper bushes.
Why don’t I see sparrows at my feeders anymore and I used to?
Albert van Sambeek glued transparent feeding troughs to the window and all summer it was a merry mess with seed-pecking birds, but now that winter is approaching, he suddenly no longer sees any sparrows. How is that possible, he wonders. First of all, I want to say right away that it is not yet certain that no more sparrows will come to his bird food, but that he cannot see any now. Towards winter, the sparrows gather in large groups, as they are more protected against attacks by birds of prey.
Now the sparrows that were with Albert may have moved to another location and grouped with the sparrows that are there. If there is enough food, they stay there, but they may also call at Albert’s feeding troughs later in their feeding journey. It may also have to do with cover, because in the autumn they mainly look for sleeping places near tall evergreen plants.
Strange mushroom in a garden in Mierlo, what’s the name?
Eria Slegers found a special mushroom in her garden in Mierlo and she would like to know what it’s called. In her garden she found a very beautiful collared earthstar. There are nineteen types of terrestrial stars in our country. They all arise in the same way. The earthstar starts out as a kind of ball. This is the fruiting body. When ripe, the outer layers open. These outer layers, also called slips, then bend star-shaped around the fruiting body.
Inside you can see a smaller ball containing the spore mass. In the middle of this smaller ball, an opening is created through which the spores come out. Collared Earthstars are saprophytes and thus live on dead organic material.
Weird growth in a pond
An acquaintance of Monique Hogeboom has a strange kind of growth in their pond and they want to know what it is. Unfortunately I can’t see very well what it is in the photo, but I suspect that it concerns colony-forming water sacs.
Each bryozoan has a shell that consists partly of lime and is connected to the other moss animals through holes or pores in their walls. In seawater these become large calcified colonies, but in freshwater they become soft, gelatinous, often translucent masses. This merging can often result in gigantic distended balloon-like or perhaps rugby ball-like masses. The largest ever in the Netherlands was two meters.
On the ditch side was a skeleton of which animal is this skeleton?
Dimph Senders sent me a picture of what once was an animal. In the photo you can clearly see a skull, ribs, bones and also some fur. The skull indicates that it may have been a lagomorph, but then it could be a rabbit or a hare.
So it is always useful if you see something like this, that you add something recognizable, for example a pen or a lighter. A ruler is even better, but you don’t always have it with you. I think it is the latter, because I see that the bones of the legs are quite long and then we are dealing with sprint legs of a hare. The bones of a rabbit’s legs are much shorter. In addition, Dimph reported that she had found the remains in a ditch and hares are more common in open grasslands than rabbits.
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Smoking Earthstars – Andre Duijveman
Publication: 23 Nov 2019
Earth stars are unmistakable belly fungi that start out as a sphere consisting of two layers, the endoperidium and the exoperidium. When growing out, the exoperidium splits open star-shaped and folds outward, revealing the endoperidium (“ball”). Ripe spores are worked out through a mouth opening. This includes the species that are found in the outer dune (forest strip and gray dunes). Jalink, L. M. (1995). Slow-motion footage shows them spewing clouds of spores and then appearing to smoke.
Is this a coral fungus and is it rare?
Thea Hermans thought she had seen a coral fungus and she wondered if this fungus is rare. The fungus is indeed a coral fungus, but it is not really rare and is called sticky coral fungus. Sticky coral fungi live as saprophytes. This means that they live on dead natural materials of softwood, for example rotten stumps or dead branches. You don’t see them very often, because the fruiting bodies – which protrude above the subsoil – are sometimes very small.
The size varies from two to eight centimeters. These sticky coral fungi only show themselves in autumn. Then they come in all kinds of forms. You can find fungi with straight branches, but you also have shapes with many branches. Just feel them carefully, then you will understand why this fungus is called sticky coral fungus.
This tree is named after a North American Indian tribe and was the inspiration for the famous barbed wire
Evelien Reijns-ten Berge was with a friend in South Limburg and saw fruit on the ground the size of a tennis ball and she wondered what kind of tree it is. Coincidentally I have an acquaintance who also has such a tree in the garden and the name is osadoorn. This tree belongs to the mulberry family and is native to the United States of America.
There this tree is known as “Osage orange”. This is because the fruit somewhat resembles an orange, especially in terms of shape. The tree owes its name to the fact that the species was mainly found in the tribal area of the Osage Indians. The word thorn in the name is because the branches of the Osage thorn have very sharp spines. That is why the tree was planted by the Indians in dense impenetrable hedges as a kind of fence for the cattle. The funny thing is that the thorns of the osage were the inspiration for the invention of barbed wire.
nature tip; Winter scenes at Huis Ter Heide
Saturday, December 10 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m
Cold?
Huis ter Heide has been transformed from farmland into a wet heathland and fen area. Together with the forester we explore Huis ter Heide, where birds and animals find their food. How are the animals equipped to endure the cold? How do they get through the winter, do we still have winters? In short, a wonderful walk during the beautiful winter season.
More information:
• Departure Point Parking lot Intermediate track 5175 AC De Moer
• There are costs involved; members € 7.00 and non-members € 10.00
• Registration is required and possible through this link
• This excursion is aimed at adults. Older children are welcome accompanied by an adult.
• Wear clothing appropriate to the weather.
• Dogs are not allowed.
• Bring your binoculars.